The ability to pleasingly display a product in a package so as to entice consumers to purchase the product, the ability to adequately protect the product in the package during shipment and handling, and environmental concerns over the waste of materials used to manufacture such packages are, in today's world, constantly in conflict. This is especially true with regard to items such as plastic cards, sample products, computer games, and music discs, collectively referred to as media items. In each case, the seller or provider of the media item is interested in providing the consumer with a package which is capable of protecting the media item from damage during shipment and handling, such as on the store shelf, and providing a package which is sufficiently attractive so as to entice the consumer to purchase the product.
Media items, such as video games, are frequently packaged in carriers, such as a paperboard box, which often have dimensions exceeding 8.times.21/2.times.9 inches. These carriers are used even though a video game or similar computer program typically includes either a CD ROM disc having a diameter of less than 5" or a 31/2" computer diskette, and an instructional booklet of usually no more than twenty pages. The problem is made worse because in order to retain the CD ROM and the related instructional booklet in place, additional material, often paperboard or corrugated, is placed inside the carrier. Although the marketing and promotional requirements are well met by such large carriers, the waste of materials is dramatic.
In the music industry, promotional CDs are frequently packaged in plastic jewel cases. Although the jewel cases are useful in protecting the CD from damage during shipment and handling, because of their construction, they are difficult to open, often break, and are not environmentally friendly.
Similarly, in the food and beverage, and fragrance and cosmetic industries, prepackaged product samples are frequently inserted or secured, such as by stapling to cards which are used to ship these media items to retail outlets and/or consumers. Unfortunately, the shipping cards do not provide very good protection for or handsomely display the media item.
Prior to the advent of CDs, music was sold in the form of phonograph records. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,057,470 and 3,549,225 disclose the use of phonograph holders which receive a protective envelope surrounding the phonograph record so that in a shipping and/or storage position the protective envelope is covered by the holder to protect the protective envelope. In addition, each patent discloses the holder in an erected position which presents the protective envelope in an upright position to allow the phonograph record to be removed and inserted from the protective envelope via an opening at the top of the protective envelope. The purpose of the phonograph holders is in part to allow handling of the phonograph record by a peripheral edge thereof to thereby minimize damage thereto. However, each of the patents requires the use of a protective envelope to be secured to a central portion of the holder and, based on the configuration of the holders, each requires access to the protective envelope by means of a top opening. Furthermore, the phonograph record requires the additional protection of an outer layer, such as a transparent layer, to prevent the phonograph record from falling out of the protective envelope and the holder if the holder is inadvertently inverted or jostled during shipment and/or handling.
Consequently, the available approaches used to retain a media item for protection during shipment and handling and for handsomely advertising and/or displaying the media item, at its destination, fail in either or both of the objectives set forth above. In addition, the environmental impact of each of the aforementioned approaches is less than desirable.